Mental Health

The Life Waiting For Me: A Letter

By Rivka Mazal Tauber | September 15, 2022

This essay was workshopped in The Layers Writing Workshops. Dear Hashem,  You know everything that I have been through.  You…

Meeting Myself In the Attic

By Nathalie Levy Riess | August 18, 2022

This essay was workshopped in The Layers Writing Workshops. I never thought I would have the courage to finally face…

My Story of Sexual Abuse

By Rachel Cohen | January 26, 2022

It’s time to tell my story of sexual abuse.  I’ll be honest, I’m absolutely terrified right now. Scared out of…

Experiencing Depression After Pregnancy Loss

By Dr. Kerry Bar-Cohn | October 12, 2021

For much of my life, I didn’t understand what it meant to be depressed. I thought it meant feeling down,…

Choosing Love

By Cheryl Nayowitz | August 24, 2021

As much as I loved love and dished it out generously to others, I fed myself fear. This ingestion was…

The Next Chapter

By Shira Lankin Sheps | August 8, 2021

It’s funny how sometimes we end up creating for others what we need the most. The Layers Project was born…

Maybe A Little Brighter, Tomorrow

By Atara Paris | January 26, 2021

After my second son was born, I struggled with mild postpartum depression (PPD). It was bad enough to be struggling…

Breathless: My Struggle With Panic Attacks

By Anonymous | January 14, 2021

It starts with a tightness in my chest. Slow and searing, it feels like my heart has a clamp around…

Stopping to Surrender

By Anonymous | November 15, 2020

It’s so hard for me to be far away from him, not to be able to hold him through this,…

How Far I’ve Come

By Jessica Koenigsberg | October 27, 2020

Twenty years ago today, I was in Israel in seminary for about twelve days when right before Rosh Hashana, my…

The Darkness Behind My Smile

By Arielle Zellis Paley | October 14, 2020

I am laying against the wall with my fingers in my ears.  My eyes are closed shut.  I feel the…

Azi’s Story: “Finding the Light Within Us”

By Shira Lankin Sheps | August 24, 2020

(1/8): “Feeling Deeply” “From a very young age, I had a great capacity to feel. I recall watching an episode…